English            -             White-barred Piculet

Portuguese    -             Pica-pau-anão-barrado

Latin               -             Picumnus cirratus

This is one cool wee bird and the first member of the woodpecker family that I photographed. Both photos were taken on different days but in the same location. They were photographed at Reserva Ecológica de Guapiaçu (REGUA) as I was walking around the Wetlands Trail (yellow trail) This trail has an amazing diversity of wildlife. Most times I went around it, I would see / photograph something new. Anyway, back to the White-barred Piculet. In both occasions I heard them before I saw them. All I heard was a tap tap tap tap tap and creeping up to where the tapping was from, was able to photograph them. Soon realised though that they are not as nervous as their bigger cousins and I could get reasonably close to them without them flying away. On both occasions I was lucky with the lighting and managed to get quite good photos of them amongst the branches in the trees. Photo No 1 is of a male. The male is obvious by it’s red crown as the female (photo No 2) lacks the red crown.

* This is a small bird of only 10cm long and weighs 12 grams.

* It is found in parts of Brazil with adjoining Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia.

* It inhabits gallery forest and tall bushes in savannah as well as woodland and forest edges.

* Song of the White-barred Piculet.

* They feed on small insects, their larvae and eggs and on the sap from branches and twigs.

* The White-barred Piculet drills holes in branches to obtain its food.

* The female lays 2 - 4 small white eggs.

* This White-barred Piculet has a very large range and is described as being common. The population is believed to be in slow decline, because of ongoing destruction of the rainforest, but this is not happening at such a rate as to make the species vulnerable, therefore the White-barred Piculet is classified as a species ”of least concern”.